Y2K Cascade

A shot of one of the last nuclear explosions in the early morning. This photo was found in the rubble of the South Tower of the World Trade Center, during the repairing of the damaged, but still standing North Tower.

This timeline explores the world after a large accidental nuclear bombing run of the entire earth occurs due to a massive computer malfunction. It was caused by Y2K.

The Point of Divergence of the Y2K Cascade timeline is 12:00:01 AM, January 1, 2000, on which, a global computer malfunction already predicted becomes even more serious than ever imagined.

This computer bug leads to a different outcome of a fairly insignificant, at least nowdays, event that took place.

In the OTL, Y2K was just another scare about how the world would've ended if our computers stopped working. After January 1, 2000, came to pass, with no huge shutdowns or massive undersea earthquakes, Y2K slipped from the minds of many.

This timeline predicts the results after Y2K did happen. When the clocks struct 12:00:01 AM, computers start malfunctioning all around the globe. Mobile phone lines stop working, computer networks cease to connect, and control of remote-controlled items are lost. During this time, the nuclear arsenals of the world are launched. Countries with small, controlled, arsenals suspect the malfunctions and loss of contact to be the responsibility of other countries. Larger arsenal-holding countries watch helplessly as their own nuclear missiles rain down on other countries as well as their own.

With the world savagely burned and destroyed in every corner, it is suspected only five hundred million people were alive in the world after the bomb dropping ended, and only two hundred and thirty million once the fallout cleared and the crops started growing back.

A photograph of a lone man walking the streets of the decimated Rantoul, Illinois.

After agonizing events that are still in their after-effects in some parts of the world, regions, territories and countries stabilize. Over the years, new states erupt from the barren wasteland, and other states join more powerful ones. The world, more or less, is equivalent in technological terms as of 2012 ATL, to the 1930's.

Now, twelve years after that fateful day, prosperity is finally being achieved in the most developed parts of the globe.

Millennium News- Headlines

April 5, 2012: Bomb in Cardiff Neighborhood kills 41, injures 154: Cardiff, Wales: A terrorist bombing in a small residential neighborhood in Cardiff has killed 41 people, and has severely injured 154 more. Currently, the neighborhood is closed off. Two suspects are in custody, one a registered member of the Welsh Nazi Party, and a newly found illegal immigrant from East Prussia who is part of an anti-Welsh hate group called the OGSWP (English: East Prussians against Dirty Welsh Persons).

March 26, 2012: Abkhazian President Alexander Ankvab assassinated: Sukhumi, Abkhazia: At a political rally for the President's reelection campaign, Alexander Ankvab was shot by a Azerbaijani Nationalist with a hunting rifle. The president died two hours later, at approximately 14:51 Georgian Time. Vice President Mikhail Logua is the Acting President as of that time, and the Azerbaijani man is in custody, awaiting a quick trial.

March 25, 2012: Macau shows off first nuclear weapon in military parade today:Macau: At 9:00 AM Today, the first nuclear weapon ever created in Asia following Y2K, has been showcased in yet another military parade in Macau. After years of a technological advancement pact with Karakalpakstan, nuclear weaponry is now a very real thing for this famous Military Junta. Because of this recent advancement, the Coalition of Sovereign States has permanently barred Macau from membership. Karakalpakstan is expected to follow very soon with their own nukes.

March 19, 2012: Afghanistan gains control of former Nimruz Province from the Taliban: FAYZABAD, Afghanistan: After tense fighting the past few weeks, the central Islamic State government has gained control of Nimruz Province from the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, run by the Taliban Government. According to the official statement from ISA President Burhanuddin, the Head of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Mohammed Omar, is somewhere in the last two remaining IEA provinces, Helmand or Kandahar, as sweeps of the ISA-controlled provinces have shown no sign of him. Continued fighting in Helmand has no projected winner, as the Taliban have shown no mercy during their ongoing guerrilla war against the ISA.

February 27th, 2012: William Green is elected as the 2nd President of Marquette: MARQUETTE CITY, Marquette: After a tense presidential race between Freedom Party candidate David Sagan and Christian Party candidate William Green, Mr. Green was found to have won the election with 96.1 percent of the vote. Sagan has claimed election fraud, due to the unusually high amount of votes cast to Green, and the fact that the last President of Marquette, Jacque Harper, also a member of the Christian Party, won the election with 94.2 percent of the vote, despite Marquette having a majority Atheist population. William Green has promised to uphold the policies of former President Harper, by governing the country with the laws given by the Holy Bible.

February 13th, 2012: New Zulu Kingdom nears Civil War: MAPUTO, New Zulu Kingdom: Tensions between the Democratic Tribal Forces (DTF) and the Zulu Nationalists are at an all-time high. After last week's unsurprising decision by the king to not create a parliament for the Kingdom, the DTF's leader, Xolani Mondli, has vowed to bring democracy to the Zulu people, at any cost. The Zulu Nationalists, backed by the government, have publicly denounced this statement, saying that Xolandi's idea of democracy involves the complete Westernization of the country and the removal of all traditional religion from the Zulu lands.

February 2nd, 2012: Palestinian Annexation of Golan Heights is finalized: GOLAN HEIGHTS, Syria: Talks to annex the historical holy lands of the Golan Heights has been finalized with Syria. In return for increased trade and a strong military alliance against Sinai, Golan Heights will be categorized as official Palestine lands as of March 1, 2012, when Palestine forces are finally set up in the area.

January 31st, 2012: Cleanup of St. Pierre and Miquelon begins: MONTREAL, New Canada: Quebec President Willard Ripley has signed an agreement with New Canada President Ford Isaacs to clean up the abandoned archipelago of St. Pierre and Miquelon, which was hit by a fifteen-kiloton nuclear bomb on Y2K. Because of over-population concerns in Montreal, the former 18th Century New France colony has become a prime target for new settlement. The cleanup is expected to be completed by September of 2016.